Nozzles



Aug. 25, 1964 s. ALSLEBEN 3,145,413

NOZZLES Filed Jan. 2, 1963 Inventor Gunther Alsleben. By his AttorneyUnited States Patent '0 3,145,413 NOZZLES Giinther Alsleben, Wiesbaden,Germany, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington,N..I., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Jan. 2, 1963, Ser. No. 248,912Claims priority, application Germany Ian. 17, 1962 6 Claims. (Cl. -595)This invention relates in general to the application of sealants or thelike into grooves or cracks, as done in the building trade, and moreparticularly to extrusion nozzles for sealant-applying guns.

The nozzle of the present invention is herein described in connectionwith sealant-applying guns of the type used in the building industry,but it is to be understood that the invention may be applied toextrusion nozzles for other uses. The guns now used in the buildingtrade for forcing sealant into grooves are commonly provided withnozzles corresponding generally to the widths of the grooves. Most ofthe present nozzles are made of rigid material such as metal or plastic;their rigid or substantially rigid nozzle ends are thus practicallyimpossible to adapt to the varying widths of most grooves to be filled.In using these nozzles it is often the case that the opening is wider orsmaller than the groove; so that either the groove is not filledsatisfactorily or the adjacent building portions are smeared along theirmargins. Frequently the groove edges are not smooth but have brokenoutsections, especially with synthetic materials. Moreover, in buildingblocks of stone or synthetic material the surfaces are frequentlyribbed, granular, or grained. In such instances the presentsealantapplying tools with rigid nozzles have the disadvantage that asupplementary smoothing operation after using such nozzles is required.

An object of the invention is to provide a nozzle which avoids theaforementioned disadvantages. This is accomplised in accordance withcertain features of the invention by providing a nozzle with anextrusion opening in the form of an egg or a tear-drop by elongating theedge surrounding the opening in the direction of application, and byproviding a flexible foot and slide member, the width of which isgreater than the widest portion of the widest portion of the nozzleopening.

The novel slide member overcomes the disadvantages arising fromroughness, broken out portions, joint edges, and nonuniform tolerances,because the flexible portion trailing the nozzle opening not onlypresses the sealant into the groove with a certain degree of concavity,but also, yielding elastically, wipes over the margins along thejoint.

In accordance with one feature of the invention, the slide member isguided or supported by a securing member provided at the nozzle openingarrayed to hold that part of the slide member extending in the directionof the already-applied sealant in the desired position.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the securingmember consists of a plate surrounding the nozzle opening having tongueportions which hold the slide member in the plane of the opening, butmaintain a slight convexity of the slide member transversely of theopening so that the filled groove presents a concave surface.

Failure completely to fill the joint by the use of conventional nozzlesarises from the fact that the sealant in entering the joint or grooveadheres to the margin of the joint and thus cannot enter deeply, sincebeginning with a certain depth the back pressure from the sealantadhering to the margins increases so greatly that the sealant swellsfrom the tip of the joint and a convex surface results in place of thedesired concave form. The present nozzle completely overcomes thisdisadvantage, since the sealant first enters the groove through a smallportion of the nozzle opening and does not adhere tightly to the sidesof the groove, after which the sealant, entering through the larger partof the opening, completely fills the groove. The slide member, with itswidth greater than that of the nozzle opening, effectively prevents adeviation of the sealant. Thus, the sealant cannot escape the groove andmust enter to the desired depth, and increased pressure is created inthe sealant, insuring that the porous sides of the grooves arecompletely filled, so that a complete contact is created between thesealant and the groove edges.

Since the rigid nozzle edges are easily damaged, thus rendering thenozzle useless, the nozzle of this invention has the further advantagethat the sliding member and the supporting member can easily bereplaced.

Other objects and features of this invention, and a fuller understandingthereof, may be had by referring to the following description and claimstaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an illustrative nozzle without a flexibleslide foot attached;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the nozzle without its slide foot;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the nozzle with its slide foot attached;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the nozzle with its slide foot attached;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the nozzle and its slide foot; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the nozzle applying sealant to agroove.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the illustrative nozzleis made up of a narrowing tube 12 at the narrow end of which is a head14. The head is composed of a securing member 16, a small lip 18 abovethe securing member, and an orifice 20 through which the sealant isforced into the groove (G in FIG. 6). The orifice consists of a wideportion 22, approximately the same width as the groove the nozzle is tobe used upon, and a narrow portion 24. In the application of sealantalong a groove the narrow portion leads the wide portion, therebyinsuring that sealant penetrates to the depth of the groove before itbegins to adhere to the upper sides of the groove as it will when itpasses from the wide portion 22.

The securing member 16 may be soldered or welded to the nozzle and isformed of a plate bent at 26 so that the trailing edge 28 issubstantially in the plane of the orifice 20. The securing member has atrailing edge tongue 30 and a leading edge tongue 32 for holding aflexible slide foot 34; the leading edge tongue 32 passes through a maincenter hole 36 of the slide foot, while.

the trailing edge tongue 30 passes through a mounting hole 38 of theslide foot. Thus, the two tongues of the securing member hold the slidefoot, which is made of rubber or a synthetic elastic material, undertension in such a position that its main center hole 36 is above theorifice.

In the use of the illustrative nozzle, as shown in FIG. 6 to forcesealant into a groove G, the nozzle is applied to the groove as shown,and moved forward in the direction shown by the arrow D. The sealantcomes to the nozzle under pressure from the extruding gun. As has beenpointed out above, the orifice 20 passes along the groove with itsnarrower end 24 in the lead; thus, the first sealant to enter the grooveshould be forced to the bottom of the groove and should not be caughtalong its sides. After the first sealant has been forced deeply into thegroove, the sealant from the wide portion 22 of the orifice is depositedon top of it and aheres to the sides of the groove near the top. In thisway, the

shape of the orifice insures that sealant will first penetrate to theextreme depth of the groove, before it can be impeded by sealant whichhas begun to adhere too strongly to the upper sides of the groove.

The flexible slide foot 34 is preferably an elongated member having alongitudinal width gradation generally corresponding to and in alinementwith the width variation in the orifice 2i), i.e. when the foot ismounted in position on the securing member 16. Thus, the leading endportion of the slide foot 34 is of less width than the trailing endportion. The leading end portion is of such a width as to beaccommodable in the groove to which sealant is applied thereby to aid inthe distribution of sealant. The trailing end of the slide foot 34 hasrounded portions 42' which extend over the surface adjacent the groove Gof an article to which sealant is to be applied.

The trailing end of the flexible slide foot 34 is bowed outwardly in itscenter 40 (FIG. 3) by the tensioning action of the trailing end 28; thisbowing effect causes the center 40 to enter yieldingly into thesealant-filled groove, so that the sealant is smoothed down below thelevel of the upper edges of the groove. The rounded out portions 42 atthe trailing end of the slide foot 34 ride on top of the surfacesadjacent to the groove and thereby smooth off any sealant thereon. Theslide member is preferably inclined at an angle of 30 to 45 relative tothe axis of the nozzle. This range of angular relationships has beenfound to give the best distribution of the sealant and smoothing actionimmediately behind the orifice.

Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with acertain degree of particularly, it is understood that the. presentdisclosure has been made only by way of example, and that numerouschanges in the details of construction and the combination andarrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from thespirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim as my invention:

1. A nozzle for applying sealants under pressure to a groove, saidnozzle having an orifice, a wide portion of which is of approximatelythe width of the groove to be worked on and so placed as to be at thetrailing end of said orifice as the nozzle is moved along the groove inthe applying process, the leading end of said orifice being narrowerthan the trailing end, and a flexible slide foot mountable on saidnozzle and extending laterally outwardly around said orifice andcooperative therewith to distribute sealant.

2. A nozzle for applying sealants under pressure to a groove, saidnozzle having an orifice, a wide portion of which is of approximatelythe width of the groove to be worked on and so placed as to be at thetrailing end of said orifice as the nozzle is moved along the groove inthe applying process, the leading end of said orifice being norrowerthan the trailing end, a flexible slide foot mountable on said nozzleand extending laterally outwardly around said orific and cooperativetherewith to distributte sealant, and means mounted on said nozzleremovably securing said slide foot about the nozzle orifice, saidsecuring means being so shaped that the trailing or rear end thereof,relative to the direction of application of said sealant, issubstantially in the plane of the orifice.

3. A nozzle for applying sealants under pressure to a groove, saidnozzle having an orifice, a wide portion of which is of approximatelythe width of the groove to be worked on and so placed as to be at thetrailing end of said orifice as the nozzle is moved along the groove inthe applying process, the leading end of said orifice being narrowerthan the trailing end, a flexible slide foot mountable on said nozzleand extending laterally outwardly around said orifice and cooperativetherewith to distribute sealant, and securing means mounted on thenozzle about the orifice thereof for removably securing the slide footin operative relation to said orifice, said securing means being soshaped that the trailing or rear end thereof, relative to the directionof application of said sealant, is substantially in the plane of theorifice and having projections thereon on which said slide foot is heldunder tension without other surface contact with said securing meanswhereby said slide foot is convexly curved transversely of said orifice.

4. A nozzle for applying sealants under pressure to a groove, saidnozzle having an orifice, a Wide portion of which is approximately thewidth of the groove to be worked on and so placed as to be at thetrailing end of said orifice as the nozzle is moved along the groove inthe applying process, the leading end of said orifice being narrowerthan the trailing end, a flexible slide foot mountable on said nozzleand extending laterally outwardly around said orifice and cooperativetherewith to distribute sealant, said slide foot having a work engagingsurface disposed at an angle of between 30 and relative to the axis ofthe nozzle, and securing means mounted on the nozzle about the orificethereof for removably securing the slide foot in operative relation tosaid orifice, said securing means being so shaped that the trailing orrear end thereof, relative to the direction of application of saidsealant, is substantially in the plane of the orifice and havingprojections thereon on which said slide foot is held under tensionwithout other surface contact with said securing means whereby saidslide foot is convexly curved transversely of said orifice.

5. A nozzle for applying sealant under pressure to a groove comprising atubular body member, an elongated orifice having a longitudinal widthgradation at one end of said body member, and a flexible slide footmountable on said body member in proximity to said orifice whereby saidflexible slide foot and said orifice cooperate to distribute sealant,said flexible slide foot having a leading end accommodable in the grooveand a trailing end of suflicient width to extend over the surfacesadjacent to the groove.

6. A nozzle for applying sealant under pressure to a groove comprising atubular body member, an elongated orifice having a longitudinal widthgradation at one end of said body member, a flexible slide footmountable on said body member in proximity to said orifice whereby saidflexible slide foot and said orifice cooperate to distribute sealant,said flexible slide foot having a leading end accommodable in the grooveand a trailing end of suflicient width to extend over the surfacesadjacent to the groove, and securing means for removably mounting saidflexible slide foot on said body member having projections thereon onwhich said flexible slide foot is mountable under tension, saidtensioned slide foot being convexly curved transversely of the orificein the vicinity of the leading end.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,836,333 Woodel May 27, 1958

1. A NOZZLE FOR APPLYING SEALANTS UNDER PRESSURE TO A GROOVE, SAIDNOZZLE HAVING AN ORIFICE, A WIDE PORTION OF WHICH IS OF APPROXIMATELYTHE WIDTH OF THE GROOVE TO BE WORKED ON AND SO PLACED AS TO BE AT THETRAILING END OF SAID ORIFICE AS THE NOZZLE IS MOVED ALONG THE GROOVE INTHE APPLYING PROCESS, THE LEADING END OF SAID ORIFICE BEING NARROWERTHAN THE TRAILING END, AND A FLEXIBLE SLIDE FOOT MOUNTABLE ON SAIDNOZZLE AND EXTENDING LATERALLY OUTWARDLY AROUND SAID ORIFICE ANDCOOPERATIVE THEREWITH TO DISTRIBUTE SEALANT.